7. Inadequate; insufficient: oil in short supply; were short on experience.

8. Lacking in length or amount: a board that is short two inches.

9. Lacking in breadth or scope: a short view of the problem.

10. Deficient in retentiveness: a short memory.

11.

a. Holding a trading position that is inversely related to the price of a security or index: short investors; an investor who is short gold.

b. Of or relating to a short sale: a short position.

12.

a. Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky: a short pie crust.

b. Not ductile; brittle: short iron.

13.

a. Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mălus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "apple tree."

b. Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ă) in pat or (o͝o) in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.

14. Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.

15. Slang Close to the end of a tour of military duty.

adv.shorter, shortest

1. Abruptly; quickly: stop short.

2. In a rude or curt manner.

3. At a point before a given boundary, limit, or goal: a missile that landed short of the target.

4. At a disadvantage: We were caught short by the sudden storm.

5. By means of a short sale: selling a commodity short.

n.

1. Something short, as:

a. Linguistics A short syllable, vowel, or consonant.

b. A brief film; a short subject.

c. A size of clothing less long than the average for that size.

d. shorts Short pants extending to the knee or above.

e. shorts Undershorts.

2.

a. A short sale.

b. One that sells short.

3. shorts A byproduct of wheat processing that consists of germ, bran, and coarse meal or flour.

4. shorts Clippings or trimmings that remain as byproducts in various manufacturing processes, often used to make an inferior variety of the product.

5.

a. A short circuit.

b. A malfunction caused by a short circuit.

6. Baseball A shortstop.

v.short·ed, short·ing, shorts

v.tr.

1. To cause a short circuit in.

2. Informal To give (one) less than one is entitled to; shortchange.

3. To short-sell (a security or index).

v.intr.

To short-circuit.

Idioms:

for short

As an abbreviation: He's called Ed for short.

in short

In summary; briefly.

short for

An abbreviation of: Ed is short for Edward.

short of

1. Having an inadequate supply of: We're short of cash.

2. Less than: Nothing short of her best effort was required to make the team.

3. Other than; without resorting to: Short of yelling at him, I had no other way to catch his attention.

4. Not quite willing to undertake or do; just this side of: She stopped short of throwing out the old photo.

shortness - the property of being of short spatial extent; "the shortness of the Channel crossing"

length - the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place; "the length of the table was 5 feet"

longness - the property of being of long spatial extent; "one gene causes shortness and the other causes longness"

2.

shortness - the condition of being short of something; "there was no shortness of money"; "can cause shortness of breath"

deficiency, lack, want - the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable; "there is a serious lack of insight into the problem"; "water is the critical deficiency in desert regions"; "for want of a nail the shoe was lost"

Because those whalemen did not then, and do not now, try out their oil at sea as the Southern ships have always done; but cutting up the fresh blubber in small bits, thrust it through the bung holes of large casks, and carry it home in that manner; the shortness of the season in those Icy Seas, and the sudden and violent storms to which they are exposed, forbidding any other course.

At first the talk was a little gloomy, and ran mainly upon the shortness of life, the uncertainty of it, the perils which beset it, and the need and wisdom of being always prepared for the worst; this shaded off into low-voiced references to the dangers of the deep, and kindred matters; but as the gray east began to redden and the mysterious solemnity and silence of the dawn to give place to the joy-songs of the birds, the talk took a cheerier tone, and our spirits began to rise steadily.

Elizabeth would have been startled and embarrassed if she could have read his thoughts, for they might have suggested to her that she was becoming a great deal fonder of Bill than the shortness of their acquaintance warranted.

It may perhaps be asked, how the shortness of the duration in office can affect the independence of the Executive on the legislature, unless the one were possessed of the power of appointing or displacing the other.

He felt that his father meant to ward off any request for money on the ground of the misfortune with Wildfire, and that the emphasis he had thus been led to lay on his shortness of cash and his arrears was likely to produce an attitude of mind the utmost unfavourable for his own disclosure.

It's the name of a buccaneer of my acquaintance; and I call you by it for the sake of shortness, and what I have to say to you is this; one glass of rum won't kill you, but if you take one you'll take another and another, and I stake my wig if you don't break off short, you'll die-- do you understand that?

He took up all my clothes in his pastern, one piece after another, and examined them diligently; he then stroked my body very gently, and looked round me several times; after which, he said, it was plain I must be a perfect YAHOO; but that I differed very much from the rest of my species in the softness, whiteness, and smoothness of my skin; my want of hair in several parts of my body; the shape and shortness of my claws behind and before; and my affectation of walking continually on my two hinder feet.

All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.